Zuckerberg reportedly reluctant to change policies amid ad boycott campaign

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly reluctant to change the social media platform’s policies amid an ad boycott campaign.

Numerous companies around the world are participating in the ‘StopHateForProfit’ campaign and promising to stop spending money on Facebook ads in July to pressure the social media giant to crack down on the spread of hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

Zuckerberg told employees during a virtual meeting that he “expects all these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough,” according to The Information.

Several Canadian companies are taking part in the boycott, including TD, RBC, Scotiabank, CIRA and Cineplex. On a larger scale, more than 500 companies around the world have said they are halting advertising on Facebook.

“We’re not going to change our policies or approach on anything because of a threat to a small percent of our revenue, or to any percent of our revenue,” Zuckerberg told employees.

Facebook has said that it respects feedback from its partners, and that it takes hate speech seriously.

“We’re making real progress keeping hate speech off our platform, and we don’t benefit from this kind of content. But as we’ve said, we make policy changes based on principles, not revenue pressures,” the company has stated.

Source: The Information, CNET